Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

Ships of the Russian Naval Forces have launched military exercises in the northern part of Caspian sea.

The crew of the Russian artillery ship Volgodonsk and support vessels of the Caspian flotilla left the port of Makhachkala in the Caspian sea to fulfill the tasks of ensuring Russian Federation’s marine security and conduct combat shooting, the southern military district of Russia reported.

During the voyage, the crews of the squadron are to perform tasks on ensuring the safety of marine economic activities of the Russian Federation in the Caspian sea, work out the elements of search and rescue support, conduct combat exercises with artillery fire on sea, air and shore targets, and perform the objectives for joint maneuvering of ships group," the agency stated.

Moreover, the ships will train for Cup of the Sea contest which will be held in August in the framework of the international army games. The ships will pass around 1,500 miles on the Caspian sea.

Last summer, naval forces of Azerbaijan, Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Iran participated in the Caspian Cup - 2015 international contest. Azerbaijan was represented by one rescue tug and two frigates.

In the first stage of the competition, the naval forces of the participating countries tested their skills in artillery. Ships of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Russian Federation showed high skills in the course of aerial gunnery. Azerbaijani sailors demonstrated their skills in the destruction of floating mines and obstacles in heavy hydro-meteorological conditions.

After the first stage of the competition, patrol ship of Azerbaijani naval forces ranked the third place. During the second round crews worked through the transmission and reception of signals using colorized flags in accordance with the international code of signals. In this discipline, Azerbaijan was the first. In transition of ships to the areas of anchorages and anchoring them, Azerbaijan became the second.

Overall, Azerbaijani Navy Forces keep systematically implementing their exercises and their volumes are growing constantly. Russian and Azerbaijani Navies have held their joint naval exercises repeatedly and plan to continue that experience in the future. Naval Forces of both countries are considered the strongest and most equipped in the Caspian sea region.

Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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